Client control vs DJ freedom

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

When it comes to venues closing it could be a lot of reasons. Owner dying and nobody wants to keep it open. Prices increase to run the venue including taxes, food, beverages. That would mean having to raise the cost for a client to have an event in the venue that if people don't feel the venue is worth it they won't book that venue. Also upgrades to a venue is important. The decor, outside grounds, bathrooms, lighting and so on. Bottom line is a venue needs to keep up with the times and some owners can't afford to spend the money. Some owners don't have what is called a prudent reserve. That's money set aside for emergencies and other things to keep the business a float.

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Most venues are built on leased land. When the real estate potential exceeds the current lease values those leases are not renewed and the parcel is leased or sold to a higher use.

There's at least 7 Car Dealerships in my neighboring communities that all presently sit on land that was formerly occupied by wedding and event venues.

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

When it comes to venues closing it could be a lot of reasons. Owner dying and nobody wants to keep it open. Prices increase to run the venue including taxes, food, beverages. That would mean having to raise the cost for a client to have an event in the venue that if people don't feel the venue is worth it they won't book that venue. Also upgrades to a venue is important. The decor, outside grounds, bathrooms, lighting and so on. Bottom line is a venue needs to keep up with the times and some owners can't afford to spend the money. Some owners don't have what is called a prudent reserve. That's money set aside for emergencies and other things to keep the business a float.

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Mix do you have a “prudent reserve “ for your dj business

tunes4046 said:

Mix do you have a “prudent reserve “ for your dj business

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No sir. I don't have any over head either. I don't own a venue and I don't have a office that I pay rent.

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

No sir. I don't have any over head either. I don't own a venue and I don't have an office that I pay rent.

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I don’t have overhead either, but I have money set aside in case a piece of equipment fails and needs to be replaced, I’ve alway set aside 25% of the income for replacements/ upgrades. If basic business 101, always have a cash reserve

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

No sir. I don't have any over head either. I don't own a venue and I don't have a office that I pay rent.

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Your right Mixxy. You have a hobby.
I was home office for many years.
Wrote off supplies, half my phone & internet along with computers & printers.
You have to spend money too make money. Gigs just don't come out of thin air.

sonic-vision said:

Your right Mixxy. You have a hobby.
I was home office for many years.
Wrote off supplies, half my phone & internet along with computers & printers.
You have to spend money too make money. Gigs just don't come out of thin air.

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Where did I say anything about having a hobby?

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

Sometimes I have agreed with the price they want to pay as long as it's not too far off from the price I quoted them and sometimes the price they want to pay is not enough to get me to do the event.

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Haven’t you walked a client over 50 bucks before? What’s the standard, you guys have to be within $20 to make the deal happen?

PhaseIIPro said:

Haven’t you walked a client over 50 bucks before? What’s the standard, you guys have to be within $20 to make the deal happen?

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If I remember correctly it was about respect. It really had nothing to do with just the price alone. We had done that event for a few years and the people loved us. What happened is after the event where he didn't want to pay the extra $50 and went with the DJs willing to do the event for the cheaper price, he hurried up to me and wanted to know how much would we do the event for next year? The price I gave him was more than the price I gave him for that year.

I know you were busting my chops when you mentioned $20. Again the amount of pay wasn't the issue. It was about respect. Last year the price was double the amount that he paid those DJs who were the Titanic. A big disaster!

PhaseIIPro said:

Haven’t you walked a client over 60 bucks before? What’s the standard, you guys have to be within $20 to make the deal happen?

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Mix has zero rhyme or reason with how he operates, it’s more ego driven than anything

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

If I remember correctly it was about respect. It really had nothing to do with just the price alone. We had done that event for a few years and the people loved us. What happened is after the event where he didn't want to pay the extra $50 and went with the DJs willing to do the event for the cheaper price, he hurried up to me and wanted to know how much would we do the event for next year? The price I gave him was more than the price I gave him for that year.

I know you were busting my chops when you mentioned $20. Again the amount of pay wasn't the issue. It was about respect. Last year the price was double the amount that he paid those DJs who were the Titanic. A big disaster!

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An ego driven decision instead of a business decision

tunes4046 said:

Mix has zero rhyme or reason with how he operates, it’s more ego driven than anything

An ego driven decision instead of a business decision

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Sir I know the individual that we have done this event for for several years and I know he's not going to pay a certain amount. What it's like is not ego. It's where we get paid fairly decent money and it's a gig that's fun for us to do.

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

Sir I know the individual that we have done this event for for several years and I know he's not going to pay a certain amount. What it's like is not ego. It's where we get paid fairly decent money and it's a gig that's fun for us to do.

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If you know he's not going to pay, why keep doing the gig?
Because it's fun?
If so, then price shouldn't be an issue.
If you want to do a gig just for the fun of it,
then don't complain about $50.
(and don't say it's nit a hobby)

Ausumm said:

If you know he's not going to pay, why keep doing the gig?
Because it's fun?
If so, then price shouldn't be an issue.
If you want to do a gig just for the fun of it,
then don't complain about $50.
(and don't say it's nit a hobby)

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Sir as I said before it was about respect. There was no complaining. He didn't want to pay the price we quoted him and that was his choice. Our choice was to stick to the price we wanted to do the event for. There was no arguing or further discussion. I don't know anyone of us who has quoted a potential client a price and they didn't agree with the price they were quoted and you decided to move on. Let them keep looking for a DJ who will do their event for the price they have in mind to pay a DJ.

Let me say this. I thought about what Ricky B said about if you would provide the same service to a client who wanted to pay a lower price than what your normal price is. Keep in mind you have agreed to do the event for them for a cheaper price.

In some cases you will need certain things to get the job done right regardless of the pay. For example I was contacted about doing a surprise birthday card for a person turning 60. The guests count is to be 300-350 people. So in such a case to get the job done right that would require using my 2 QSC K12.2 speakers and at least one sub. Just the 2 tops alone as good as they are won't get the job done the right way. I also figured with such a large guests count the event is to be in a large room to accommodate that many people. Regardless of the price that's what would be needed to do the event properly.

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

Sir as I said before it was about respect. There was no complaining. He didn't want to pay the price we quoted him and that was his choice. Our choice was to stick to the price we wanted to do the event for. There was no arguing or further discussion. I don't know anyone of us who has quoted a potential client a price and they didn't agree with the price they were quoted and you decided to move on.

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If you didn't agree with the price, and did it anyway for FUN... than it has nothing to do with respect.
Because you didn't get any.

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

Let me say this. I thought about what Ricky B said about if you would provide the same service to a client who wanted to pay a lower price than what your normal price is. Keep in mind you have agreed to do the event for them for a cheaper price.

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So, that's exactly what you did. You gave them the same show as before at a lower price??

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

In some cases you will need certain things to get the job done right regardless of the pay. For example I was contacted about doing a surprise birthday card for a person turning 60. The guests count is to be 300-350 people. So in such a case to get the job done right that would require using my 2 QSC K12.2 speakers and at least one sub. Just the 2 tops alone as good as they are won't get the job done the right way. I also figured with such a large guests count the event is to be in a large room to accommodate that many people. Regardless of the price that's what would be needed to do the event properly.

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Not sure how that entered this conversation.... but okay....

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

Where did I say anything about having a hobby?

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You spend more than you have in income.
You are DJ,ing on other income.
Thats = hobby
Man, you have the biggest ego of a 12 year old.
Nothing wrong with hobbies.
I shoot trap and never has it paid back what I spend. That = hobby.

Value is a proposition owned by the customer.

There is no DJ that can charge $3k-$10K and more without bringing real authenticity in terms of presence, ability, and original set design. You have to DO production level work if you want production level pay.

When I hear DJs blaming customers for not accepting their prices - I usually hear someone who is reaching way beyond their true capacity, or is otherwise trying to fake it in some way. We cannot simply buy cheap carnival gear and surround ourselves with novelties and expect to be taken seriously.

If we want a production price we have have to build an actual production level presentation (and fill it with real talent.) Discerning clients are not stupid and they know when a vendor is faking it, even from the first phone call.

I spent many years building out sets around various DJ troupes, but even there - it isn't simply the scale of the set or production that gets anyone over the goal line. It's ultimately the talent of the performers who rack up the final score. The DJs, emcees, dancers, etc - they are the ones ultimately kicking the field goal.

We can brag all day about "what we bring" etc. but you can't fake a rock solid track record of real performance, and verifiable results.

sonic-vision said:

You spend more than you have in income.
You are DJ,ing on other income.
Thats = hobby
Man, you have the biggest ego of a 12 year old.
Nothing wrong with hobbies.
I shoot trap and never has it paid back what I spend. That = hobby.

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Here's where it's at. We did that event for a certain price at least 2 times. We decided we couldn't do it for the same price anymore. This event is all day and requires us to get up early in the morning. The system needs to be up and going before 11AM. Music playing by 11. No ego here. Again we just decided we couldn't keep doing that event for the same price when we first started. We had done it at least 2 times before we decided to raise the price. So by that time after the disaster he knew what we would bring to the table and decided rather than risk the event turning out a big mess the following year just to save money.

Bob haven't you turned down doing an event because the client didn't want to pay the price you quoted them? Sometimes I find no matter how bad you want to do an event, you have to say no because the price isn't right.

MIXMASTERMACHOM said:

Here's where it's at. We did that event for a certain price at least 2 times. We decided we couldn't do it for the same price anymore. This event is all day and requires us to get up early in the morning. The system needs to be up and going before 11AM. Music playing by 11. No ego here. Again we just decided we couldn't keep doing that event for the same price when we first started. We had done it at least 2 times before we decided to raise the price. So by that time after the disaster he knew what we would bring to the table and decided rather than risk the event turning out a big mess the following year just to save money.

Bob haven't you turned down doing an event because the client didn't want to pay the price you quoted them? Sometimes I find no matter how bad you want to do an event, you have to say no because the price isn't right.

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Mix why do always dodge statements.
How much did you make last year DJing you alone after splits with partners and whomever else you share your income with?


How much did you spend on gear and music?

Surely you at least keep track of those numbers

tunes4046 said:

Mix why do always dodge statements.
How much did you make last year DJing you alone after splits with partners and whomever else you share your income with?


How much did you spend on gear and music?

Surely you at least keep track of those numbers

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I'll answer your questions when you stop being scared of letting us see a gig log from you.